South West Illinois News

Waterloo High School had the highest enrollment among Monroe County schools, welcoming 843 students during the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Out of all the students welcomed in the 2021-22 school year, 50.2% of the students were girls, and 49.8% were boys.

Data also showed that most of the students were white, representing 93.5% of the student body at Waterloo High School.

Among the 12 schools in Monroe County, Columbia High School ranked second in enrollment with 626 students, while Waterloo Junior High School welcomed 625 students to be ranked third in the 2021-22 school year.

Waterloo High School is a part of Waterloo Community Unit School District 5, which generally encompasses schools within Monroe County with its main office in Waterloo.

In the previous school year, Waterloo High School had the highest number of students among Monroe County schools.

In the 2021-22 school year, Illinois had roughly 1.9 million students enrolled across approximately schools. There were more than 130,000 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting demographic changes. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped 3% between the 2019–20 and 2020–21 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5% to 1.5% annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last 5 years.

School name	City	Total Enrolment
Waterloo High School	Waterloo	843
Columbia High School	Columbia	626
Waterloo Junior High School	Waterloo	625
Columbia Middle School	Columbia	567
W.J. Zahnow Elementary School	Waterloo	468
Parkview Elementary School	Columbia	440
Gardner Elementary School	Waterloo	374
Rogers Elementary School	Waterloo	366
Eagleview Elementary School	Columbia	327
Valmeyer Elementary School	Valmeyer	156
Valmeyer High School	Valmeyer	119
Valmeyer Junior High School	Valmeyer	74